Barnaby Jones -The Buddy Ebsen/Lee Meriwether Series is (Finally) Announced for DVD!

The show's first season, which started with a Cannon cross-over, comes out in February

Posted by David Lambert

11/17/2009

Buddy Ebsen plays Barnaby Jones, a retired private detective who had passed his private investigation business to his son, Hal. When Hal was murdered while on a case, Barnaby came out of retirement to track down his son's killer. Hal's widow, Betty (Lee Meriwether), works on cases with Barnaby as his invaluable assistant.

On Sunday, January 28, 1973, the CBS network debuted Barnaby Jones, starring Buddy Ebsen (The Beverly Hillbillies) and Lee Meriwether (The Time Tunnel) as the father and widow of a murdered man, Hal Jones, and retired P.I. Barnaby takes the advice of his friend, Frank Cannon (William Conrad, in a cross-over from the show Cannon), to come out of retirement and solve the case in the pilot episode, "Requiem for a Son." It was the first of 13 episodes of the classic detective show's premiere season, which came in as a mid-season replacement and, all told, lasted for a run of 8 seasons total.

After years of fans wanting and waiting, their patience is rewarded at last with today's announcement from CBS/Paramount of Barnaby Jones - Season 1 on DVD, coming out on February 16th! This 662-minute set brings us the episodes as originally broadcast, in full screen video and English mono sound. They are also closed captioned. Guest stars during this first season, besides William Conrad as "Cannon" on the debut story, include William Shatner, Lynn Hamilton, Jon Cedar, Gary Lockwood, Cathy Lee Crosby, Anne Francis, Jackie Coogan, Paul Sorenson, Roddy McDowall, Geoffrey Lewis, Claude Akins, Bill Bixby and Gary Owens. Here's a look at the packaging, courtesy of the studio: